What Coral Calcium Actually Does for Your Teeth
When your company is named after an ingredient, you get a lot of questions about that ingredient. So what really is the Coral that makes Coral Toothpaste so great? Let's get into it.
The heavy science answer is that Coral calcium is an alkaline calcium carbonate with its trace minerals left in. It pushes pH up at the tooth surface, and it puts calcium back where enamel lost some. In a 2020 lab study, a 20% coral calcium gel restored 48.64% of the calcium stripped out of enamel. Untreated enamel got back 7.26%.
But most of us don't speak heavy science. So, in short, Coral Calcium cuts out the acid that eats your teeth and causes damage. This protects them from acid-related decay. It also resupplies your teeth the necessary calcium and minerals that your teeth lose every time you eat. And to prove it? In 2020, scientists took real teeth, soaked them in acid until the minerals came out, then treated some with coral calcium and left others alone. The treated ones got back about half the calcium they'd lost. The ones left alone got back almost none.
But we'll be honest, the deeper look is even more impressive than the study's findings. So let's break down exactly why Coral Calcium is needed, what it is, what the studies are, and if it's right for you!
WHAT IS CORAL CALCIUM?
Coral calcium is named to inform, not to surprise, so it's exactly what it sounds like. It's fossilized coral, ground into a fine powder. But what makes it different from the other calcium formats offered in the supplement aisle is what came along with it.
Lab analysis puts our Coral Calcium at around 24% calcium and 12% magnesium, and notes more than seventy other minerals in small amounts. This is really noticable when you compare it with regular calcium carbonate that shows up by itself, and that's it. (PubMed Central). Coral Calcium isn't the one trick pony that other brands offer - it packs as many benefits as possible into one serving size.
If you're worried that our Coral Calcium hurts the ocean, we hear you. We love the ocean (and especially our coral reefs) just as much as you do, so our coral calcium comes from coral that fossilized on dry land, long before the industrial revolution. It's harvested completely abovewater, on land. No reef is touched, no boat goes out, nothing on the ocean floor gets disturbed. That matters to us more than a sourcing line usually matters to a company, because the reefs have enough working against them without an oral care brand piling on more nonsense.
THE BATTLE BETWEEN ACID AND SALIVA
To understand the power of Coral Calcium, we have to break down how the demineralization and remineralization cycle works. The first thing to know is that your teeth are made of minerals, mostly calcium. Throughout the day, those minerals cycle. Acid pulls them out, and spit puts them back.
When you eat something, acid shows up, and your teeth give up a little calcium. Then your saliva goes to work, the acid fades, and the calcium goes back on. Dentists have a number for this tipping point. It's pH 5.5. Anything more acidic than that and your teeth start losing ground. Anything less acidic, and they start rebuilding. (Dentalcare)
A researcher named Robert Stephan measured this back in 1944. He found that your mouth turns acidic within about three minutes of eating something sweet. After that, it takes somewhere between twenty and sixty minutes for your spit to clean up the mess and get to work on repairing the damage. (Dimensions of Dental Hygiene)
So what really is remineralization and demineralization? In short, it's simply how long your mouth stays acidic, and how many times a day that happens. That twenty to sixty minute cleanup window that Robert Stephan found is what's really deciding the cost of your dentist visit.
So why is this all useful? Because, coral calcium is an alkaline, which is the opposite of acidic. When you put something alkaline against acid and the acid gets weaker. That's just chemistry. While it's doing that, it's sitting right on your teeth, loaded with the exact mineral your teeth are made of, during the exact stretch of time your teeth are trying to rebuild. It's primed to streamline the remineralization process so that your teeth get as little contact with decay-causing acid as possible, all while giving your teeth the minerals that they need to rebalance.
The researchers said it about as plainly as we could: all that calcium turns an acidic mouth into an alkaline one. And we're not the only ones who know it! Many of our customers have tried and loved the remineralizing power of Coral Calcium, just like Jacinta!
"The second I read that this toothpaste contained nano silver and was a remineralizing toothpaste, I knew I had to try it! I'm obsessed with this fluoride free, clean toothpaste!"
- Jacinta W., verified buyer, Coral Nano Silver Mint
Jacinta didn't just buy Coral for the flavor. She bought it because she knew what her mouth really needed. And hundreds of our customers report that exact same experience.
THE LAB TEST: HALF THE MINERALS BACK, VERSUS ALMOST NONE
Let's not just talk about studies, though. Let's dive right into the one that we reference the most.
A team of researchers in Egypt ran a test in 2020 and published it in a peer-reviewed journal. No toothpaste company paid for it, and the authors said flat out they had nothing to gain from the result before they got to testing.
Here's how they did it. They took 35 real molars and cut them into 70 small pieces. They soaked every piece in acid for two weeks to strip minerals out, the same way a rough diet would over years. Then they measured exactly how much calcium each piece had lost, using a scanner strong enough to count minerals. Some pieces got treated with coral calcium. Some got nothing at all.
The coral calcium pieces got back 48.64% of what they'd lost. The untreated pieces got back 7.26%. Close to half, versus almost nothing. The odds of that gap being random chance came out under 1 in 1,000.
Now the part most articles leave out. The researchers tried three different strengths. The weakest didn't do enough. Stronger actually did worse, because piling on too much calcium made it pack onto the surface instead of soaking in. The in-between sample was exactly what teeth needed for remineralization. More isn't better here. There's a right amount, and missing it in either direction costs you.
THE OTHER HALF OF THE EQUATION
All this remineralization is great for balancing your oral pH. But what if we took that protection a step further? The acid in your mouth doesn't appear out of nowhere. Bacteria in your mouth make acid every time they get fed.
Coral calcium handles the acid but can't do anything to stop the bad bacteria. So they're still in there, multiplying, ready to make more acid at your next meal. We knew that we had to do more than just deal with the acid. We had to find a way to fix the problem at the root.
That's where Nano Silver came in. It kills only the bad bacteria, leaving the good bacteria in your mouth that your body needs to stay balanced. By taking out just the bad bacteria, Nano Silver helps protect you from tooth decay, cavities, and bad breath. That's why Nano Silver is combined with Coral Calcium in our Nano Silver Toothpaste line.
What's in it | What it does | What it can't do |
|---|---|---|
Coral calcium | Cuts acid in your mouth and feeds calcium plus 70+ minerals back to your teeth | Nothing to the germs making the acid |
SilverSol nano silver | Goes after germs, keeps working up to 12 hours, kills 99.99% of what it touches | Doesn't put minerals back |
Xylitol | A sweetener the germs can't eat, so they starve on it | Doesn't cancel out acid that's already there |
Nano-hydroxyapatite | Fills in tiny pits with the same mineral teeth are made of | Doesn't change how acidic your mouth is |
"I like Coral Calcium Mint toothpaste because: It is natural. It has silver in it. It taste good. Used it a long time. No fluoride. Great for children."
- Patricia W., verified buyer, Coral Nano Silver Mint
Patricia knew what she needed, like so many of our customers. She needed something fluoride-free, safe for kids, and full of ingredients she can trust. She wrote out her checklist and every box was ticked, just like so many other customers.
IS CORAL CALCIUM RIGHT FOR YOU?
If you want to know what an ingredient is doing and why, our formulas are designed just for you. Because we don't think you should have to use anything you can't trust.
So let's summarize. Coral calcium is in our formula because it cuts acid. It hands your teeth calcium and seventy-odd other minerals. It's been tested on real enamel and put back close to half the minerals that acid had stripped away, against almost nothing for teeth left alone. It leaves your teeth feeling clean and ready to go, all day long.
"I love how clean my teeth feel and how clean the ingredients are! No glycerin to prevent remineralization, which is great!"
- Carrie D., verified buyer, Coral Nano Silver Family Bundle
She's talking about glycerin, which coats teeth and can get in the way of minerals settling back on. We leave it out. She noticed.
Our position is that fluoride is the wrong place to start the conversation. The better question is simpler. Fluoride was doing a couple of jobs in your old toothpaste, so is anything covering those jobs now? In our Nano Silver tubes, coral calcium takes the acid and SilverSol takes the germs.
Two ingredients. Two jobs. Nothing left uncovered.
Go read the panel on the back of the tube. That's the real sales pitch.
Want to try it? Coral Nano Silver Mint Toothpaste is $12.95, backed by our 30 day guarantee. Free shipping over $30.